Gwyn Mellinger: Kobach earned a rebuke

No matter what you think of Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s political agenda, you have to concede that he’s a goal-oriented, take-charge kind of guy who wants things done yesterday. No one will ever accuse him of being a do-nothing bureaucrat.

But Kobach’s activism, as a point man for the far right of the Kansas GOP, places him at odds with the democratic principles he’s charged with upholding as the state’s election officer.

Despite vague evidence that a small number of non-Americans vote in Kansas, Kobach pushed a voter ID law that would require first-time voters to prove their citizenship. Critics, including Rep. Ann Mah, D-Topeka, say the law will make it more difficult for some Kansans to vote.

The law doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1, but this spring Kobach attempted to advance the timetable for implementation to include the coming presidential election.

This impatience and willingness to risk citizen participation drew a judicial rebuke last week. The issue this time was redistricting, the most partisan exercise in all of state politics. Each 10 years the party in power has a chance to redraw voting districts to its benefit.

During a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court, the judges who will clean up the Kansas Legislature’s redistricting mess reminded Kobach that democracy must be inclusive.

Despite Kobach’s request to limit the number of individuals who could intervene in the lawsuit over redistricting, the judges have allowed more than two dozen people to provide maps and testimony in the case. The trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Kobach reportedly maintained that allowing more Kansans to participate in the litigation could increase the state’s exposure for paying attorneys’ fees, an argument that Judge John Lungstrum characterized as “truly the tail wagging the dog.”

In addition, Kobach argued for a fast-track decision to preserve the schedule for the August primary.

“I’m really troubled by this line of argument, quite frankly,” Vratil said. “The people of Kansas deserve better than ... to have this case ram-rodded through the courts on a short schedule with only a few options to choose from.” Ouch.

If Kobach is irritated with the three-judge panel, that irritation is misplaced. The real source of his grievance is the Republican leadership in the Legislature, which adjourned this month without developing reasonable election maps for the Kansas House and Senate, the State Board of Education and the four U.S. House districts.

Kansas is the only state that has not redrawn its congressional districts. Among the goofiest proposals is the one approved by the Kansas House, which would snake the 1st District into northeast Kansas to include part of Lawrence. Though the map was a transparent attempt to dilute the Democratic vote in Lawrence by folding it into the conservative district that represents western and southeastern Kansas, House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, defended it soberly.

That kind of political posturing, which derailed the 2012 session’s redistricting effort, is the problem, not citizens’ desire to participate in the solution.